More than Just Me

Book Review: Transmetropolitian, Vol: 1

Don’t we all get tired of the society, with the cynicism of people, arrogance of the people with power, the double standards of morality, the two edges of smiles and with the hopelessness in the souls around us? Don’t we all want to buy a big bad-ass apartment on the top of mountain and stay away from the jungle of concretes? Don’t we develop a fatigue from believing in the civic sarcasm of the keepers of our world?

Book Cover : Transmetropolitan

Yes, I think so we all do, but not in the scale of Spider Jerusalem, the journalist in the futuristic world, the protagonist of the manic comic book series, Transmetropolitan . Created by Warren Ellis and co-credited to Darick Robertson, Transmetropolitan, Vol 1, Back on the Street, maintains the dark theme inherited in Warren’s previous creations. He creates a world in future, the one from the dreams of death metal artist, with the chaos and madness which exists like a Torjan horse. A world that is struggling to emotionally cope with the next level of human evolution. The world which is looking for spiritual answers with ever increasing number of religions and churches.

Its the world with Gothamic absence of soul that needs a outlaw messiah to bring back hope. But in comes Spider Jerusalem with cynical sense of humor and self-destructive journalistic practice. His hatred towards the empty lifeless city and its patrons takes him to the mountains where he blewed all his money from the famous books he wrote on the political smugness. He returns to city and journalism, serving his hatred with his words.

Its hard to say that it is a must read because you need to be in the certain wavelength to appreciate the art and the dialogues in the book. Created in late 90s, it will be ironic to say that it was ahead of its time, but the book is alter-ego of the world we live in, with the symbolism of different scale. Like, the moment which gave Spider the nostalgia on Television was suicidal “Anthrax Cat” , also his futuristic Home-appliance is on electronic dope and its mafia customer service leaves a horse head on his bed when he complains about it.

I rated Transmetropolitan, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis 5/5 stars in Goodreads. Insanity and rationality never co-existed better than this world.